Author Archive

Gregory D. Lee

This week, the New York Times breathlessly reported in its New York Region section that the New York Police Department had committed a politically incorrect felony by using a film, The Third Jihad, to train its officers on the hidden agenda of many Muslims residing in the U.S. That hidden agenda is the destruction of the United States.

Apparently, the Times doesn’t realize that some Muslims in and out of this country want to harm New Yorkers and other Americans. The article says about the film: “Ominous music plays as images appear on the screen: Muslim terrorists shoot Christians in the head, car bombs explode, executed children lie covered by sheets and a doctored photograph shows an Islamic flag flying over the White House.

“This is the true agenda of much of Islam in America,” a narrator intones. “A strategy to infiltrate and dominate America. … This is the war you don’t know about.”

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Gregory D. Lee

California Gov. Jerry Brown is looking for ways to balance the state’s balance sheet, but his methodology is severely flawed.

Gov. Brown proposed recently to cut $35 million from the Department of Justice’s Division of Law Enforcement instead of eliminating the most obvious unnecessary spending by California state government on illegal aliens. The department’s Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement (BNE) will have cuts so severe it virtually eliminates the department. When Attorney General Kamala D. Harris asked if she could make the cuts more evenly throughout the department, Gov. Brown refused and specifically ordered the BNE cuts.

Gov. Brown is obviously retaliating against the BNE because its Special Agents Association endorsed Meg Whitman for governor in the last election. They knew, better than most Californians, that then-Attorney General Brown considered law enforcement, and drug enforcement specifically, a luxury that is not needed. What would you expect from a governor that supports drug decriminalization and medical marijuana dispensaries?

BNE works closely with small and rural police departments and supplements their meager drug investigation units that frequently deal with organized gangs and other criminals. They have the experience and expertise these departments normally don’t have. BNE is made up of experienced California police officers and investigators who apply for this state agency so they can get better training, develop expertise and eventually lead state drug and gang task forces to better combat drug trafficking and violence within the state’s borders.

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Gregory D. Lee

President Obama was quick to pat himself on the back during a recent interview with Steve Kroft of “60 Minutes”. During the interview, the president said, “I would put our legislative and foreign policy accomplishments in our first two years against any president – with the possible exceptions of Johnson, FDR and Lincoln, just in terms of what we’ve gotten done in modern history.”

Not long afterward, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said in a speech, “Obama doesn’t understand America. This president appears more generous to our enemies than he is to our friends. Such is the natural tendency of someone who is unsure of America’s strength – or of America’s rightful place in the world.”

Responding to that comment during a presidential news conference, Mr. Obama retorted, “Ask Osama bin Laden and the 22-out-of-30 top al Qaeda leaders who’ve been taken off the field whether I engage in appeasement. Or whoever is left out there, ask them about that.”

I’d rather ask the president the following questions:

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Gregory D. Lee

Last Monday, Iran ended its 10-day naval maneuvers in the Persian Gulf and the Straits of Hormuz, but it might be the beginning of a shooting war with the United States.

Before the maneuvers began, the U.S. Navy sailed the U.S.S. Stennis, a Nimitz class aircraft carrier, out of the Gulf, only to later receive a warning from Iran’s army chief Ataollah Salehi.

“Iran will not repeat its warning . . . the enemy’s carrier has been moved to the Sea of Oman because of our drill. I recommend and emphasize to the American carrier not to return to the Persian Gulf,” he said. This latest threat is a result of President Obama signing legislation posing sanctions on entities that deal with Iran’s central bank.

Salehi has good reason not to want the aircraft carrier to return to its base in Bahrain. The vessel, along with its fleet, can singlehandedly destroy Iran and turn it into glass. Seems that the more a country like Iran threatens military action; the least likely it is to carry it out. This could be another example of blustering by Iran because the Stennis is probably on its way to its homeport in Bremerton, Washington with no intention of returning to the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.

The unknown factor here is our commander-in-chief. What will he order the carrier group to do – anchor at sea, return to its home port, return to Bahrain or just ignore the threats? I’m guessing the threats will be ignored.

Based on Iran’s past behavior in its efforts to acquire and manufacture nuclear weapons, coupled with its rhetoric of “wiping Israel off the face of the earth,” it seems to me that it intends to do just that. This latest threat is just a distraction from Iran’s efforts to acquire components to make a nuclear weapon.

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Gregory D. Lee

Despite having more inmates on death row than any other state, California hasn’t executed anyone for six years. Why? Because defense attorneys have argued that California’s three-drug lethal injection protocol is in violation of California law.

Allegedly it “is unnecessary, dangerous and creates a risk of excruciating pain” (emphasis added). Dangerous? To whom? The executioners? I thought the drugs were designed to painlessly put hideous first-degree murderers to death. The last time I checked, no one put to death by this method has come back to complain of pain. So what’s the issue?

This latest tactic by defense attorneys and anti-capital punishment advocates is to devise yet another excuse not to execute anyone in California. For the third time in the last six years, since a California court placed a moratorium on executions, the state is forced to return to the starting line and create a new lethal-injection procedure.

To show how impartial she is, California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye told the Los Angeles Times that the death penalty is “not effective” and needs an overhaul the state cannot afford. She’s considered a moderate Republican, as evidenced by her appointment by Arnold Schwarzenegger, voting several times in favor of overturning gay marriages, and recently performing a gay marriage ceremony.

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Gregory D. Lee

Despite the obvious advantages unmanned drones bring to local police and sheriff’s departments, the ACLU and other so-called civil-rights advocates worry unnecessarily that the new technology could be used to “pry into citizens’ lives.”

Even before a single incident of law enforcement abuse of the drones is documented, liberal worry-warts are condemning the devices. They scoff at police agencies who use them as “boys and their toys.” What defense attorneys fear is the challenge of coming up with a plausible defense for their clients who are caught by a drone’s video camera of them committing the crime or fleeing from the police.

Police regard the new technology as a more efficient and cost-effective way to search for lost hikers, locate fleeing felons or conduct surveillance on known or suspected criminals. Drones provide a tactical advantage when faced with high-risk situations. Contrary to the ACLU’s notion, police do not conduct surveillance simply because they can. They conduct surveillance to solve or prevent crimes.

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Gregory D. Lee

Eric Holder’s U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division has released the findings of its three-year witch hunt of America’s most popular and effective sheriff, Joe Arpaio, of Maricopa County, Arizona.

Among the findings were that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) used “racial profiling” in traffic stops, and that a Latino was “four to nine times more likely to be stopped than similarly situated non-Latino drivers.” According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Maricopa County has a population of 3.8 million residents, which is over half of all Arizona residents. Of that number, 29.6 percent are persons of Hispanic or Latino origin. By virtue of numbers, Latinos have a one-in-three chance of being pulled over for a traffic violation, regardless of the “situation.”

Further, I’ve never seen a black illegal Mexican alien or one that looked like he was born in China.

Throughout the Justice Department’s report of findings, the words “illegal alien” could be substituted easily for “Latino” because this is what it is all about. Holder’s headhunters are trying to intimidate Sheriff Arpaio and other border state law enforcement officials to back off from enforcing federal immigration laws.

The truth is that by virtue of location, Arizona, and Maricopa County in particular, have been plagued by illegal Mexicans. Citizen complaints and aggressive law enforcement have led to the arrest and deportation of thousands of illegal aliens. This is something Holder’s Department of Justice aims to stop, especially in light of being within a year of a presidential election.

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Gregory D. Lee

Afghanistan, like its neighbor Pakistan, has always had endemic corruption and there appears to be no end in sight. Despite the rhetoric coming from President Hamid Karzi about cracking down on corruption, it goes on and has flourished to new levels.

While on active duty as an Army reservist earlier this year, I was sent on a mission in Afghanistan to evaluate the “Rule of Law” counter-insurgency strategy and make recommendations regarding Special Operations. During my assessment, I interviewed many knowledgeable people about the Afghan police and security forces and heard stories from U.S. contractors (mostly retired U.S. cops) that even I found hard to imagine. I say that because, as a DEA agent assigned to Pakistan for four years in the mid-1990s, I was shocked at the level of corruption there. But Pakistanis could learn a few things from their neighbors to the west.

For example, take your average police officer recruit. He reports to the training academy and is issued uniforms, boots, hats, gloves, etc. The very next day he returns to the academy in uniform, but without his boots. When asked by the academy staff where his boots are, the recruit shrugs his shoulders and says either that he lost them, the dog ate them or they were stolen – none of which is true.

The truth is that the recruit gave his boots to a relative, sold them to a stranger, or hid them somewhere hoping to receive another pair. This didn’t happen once in a while, according to my sources. It’s been a routine event since word got out that the academy staff will issue another pair of boots to those who need them.

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Gregory D. Lee

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Afghan President Hamid Karzai is demanding that “night raids” conducted by U.S. and NATO special forces operators be stopped. He proclaimed during a speech to the country’s Loya Jirga that he was set to end night raids, home searches and detentions by coalition troops before endorsing a strategic agreement that outlines the structure for continued American presence after most international combat forces leave Afghanistan in 2014.

Earlier this year, while an Army reservist on active duty on a special assignment to the Special Operations Command Europe, I deployed to Afghanistan to specifically look into the “Rule of Law” phase of our counterinsurgency strategy, which in part includes so-called “night raids.”

The strategy is straightforward. The goal is to stand up Afghan security forces and make them capable of enforcing their own laws to bring terrorists, insurgents, drug traffickers and other criminals to trial for their illegal activities. The key to the strategy is to allow the Afghan security forces to take the lead and demonstrate to the populace that a strong central government in Kabul is providing for its security.

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Gregory D. Lee

Just about the time Republicans think they’ve found a true conservative candidate, Newt Gingrich reveals that backdoor citizenship for illegal aliens is just fine with him.

“I don’t see how the party that says it’s the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families which have been here a quarter-century,” Gingrich said in the latest Republican debate on CNN. “I’m prepared to take the heat for saying let’s be humane in enforcing the law.”

Immigration will be Newt’s Achilles heel.

Conservatives are asking themselves the difference between Gingrich and President Obama’s policy on immigration laws. Both maintain that the children of illegal immigrants who, through no fault of their own, were brought to this country by their parents should be allowed to stay. Both assume the parents of these children want to become U.S. citizens. What evidence is there of that? If they wanted to become citizens, they would have applied years ago.

When an illegal alien brings his or her family members with them, they know the risk of being caught. They take the risk in order to receive unjustified compensation in the form of public safety, schools, medical care and a host of other benefits designed for U.S. citizens. Just because they’ve been here for an extended period of time shouldn’t give them a pass for being here illegally, nor should it give them an edge over others who seek legal migration.

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